


Darkness Is Not Evil

by LadyDrace



Series: Junk Ficlets from Tumblr [16]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Episode Related, Episode: s03e17 Silverfinger, M/M, Season/Series 03 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-18
Updated: 2014-02-18
Packaged: 2018-01-13 00:14:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1205704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyDrace/pseuds/LadyDrace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt from stephstiel: All I want in life right now is Derek being the only one to realize something’s wrong with Stiles at the first glance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Darkness Is Not Evil

Derek is hovering in the waiting area of the hospital, keeping an ear out for Scott. Just because the oni apparently weren't after him doesn't mean the danger has passed, so Derek sticks to his plan and keeps following Scott just in case. He hears him talk to Stiles and strains his senses as they get closer. There's something... different. Like seeing something out of the corner of your eye, but every time you turn there's nothing there. Derek can feel the hairs on the back of his neck rising, as if his hackles are literally going up. All of his instincts are screaming that something is very wrong, even though none of his senses can pick up anything.

 

But Derek's instincts have never done him wrong, the few times he's actually listened to them, so this time he does, vaults himself over the row of chairs and dashes down the corridor towards Stiles and Scott. He skids to a halt at a corner, clears it in a slide that would probably have pleased his inner showoff if he hadn't caught sight of Scott then. Or more accurately, the thing _next to_ Scott. The thing that most definitely _isn't Stiles_.

 

”SCOTT!” he bellows. ”Get away from him!”

 

Both Scott and the Stiles-thing look a mixture of shocked and confused, and they share a look that says they clearly think Derek has lost his mind.

 

”What are you talking about, Derek? It's just Stiles.”

 

Derek growls and shifts, bending slowly into a combat ready crouch. ”That's not Stiles,” he says, lisping slightly around his fangs. ” _Look_ Scott. Use your senses.”

 

Scott turns slowly to look at Stiles, and Derek sees the red alpha eyes reflected in Stiles' brown as they stare at each other. Scott takes a long moment to stare, only to eventually shrug and look back at Derek. ”Dude, it's really just Stiles.”

 

The Stiles-thing turns to Derek as well with a crooked smile that looks exactly like Stiles. Had it been a photo, no one would have been able to tell the difference. But somehow, it all screams _wrongness_ at Derek.

 

”I swear it's just me, big guy. No monsters here.” Even the voice sounds right. Except for how it's not. It's not. _It's not_.

 

”Scott. Trust me,” Derek begs. ”Just step away. I swear I won't hurt him. But there's something wrong.”

 

Scott still looks like he thinks Derek is insane, but then something shifts in the air around Stiles, so subtle that Derek thinks for a moment that he imagined it. But Scott obviously felt it, because he jumps away from Stiles, almost crawling up the wall to put distance between them.

 

The thing still looks like Stiles. Smells like Stiles. Feels like Stiles. But _wrong_. So very wrong.

 

”What are you?” Derek snarls, and the thing smirks. In a way that is very much not Stiles.

 

”I am... very comfortable in here,” Stiles-thing simpers.

 

”I hate to tell you this, but that space is not for rent,” Scott lisps next to Derek, wolfed out and literally shaking with fear and anger.

 

Stiles-thing shrugs. ”No matter. I make my own space. The current occupant is putting up a fuss, though. Not very cooperative at all. I could make this so comfortable for him, but all he does is rattle the bars.”

 

Derek roars and tracks gouges in the hallway floor, hoping no one comes running to see what all the ruckus is about. But his whole being is rearing up to challenge this _thing_ that is trying to take what does not belong to it. To take what's _Derek's_.

 

”Scott. If I bring him down, do you think you can hold him?”

 

The shrug Scott answers with isn't encouraging. ”Dude, I don't even know what he is right now. But I'll try.”

 

Derek takes a deep breath through his nose and locks gazes with the brown eyes he knows so well. ”Stiles, if you can hear this, be ready. We're busting you out.”

 

The thing laughs and Derek pounces. At first all he finds is thin air, but the thing didn't go far, and Derek throws himself at the trail of _wrong_ in the air, catching up to the creature in an empty locker room down the hall. The thing tilts his head in the creepiest fucking way Derek has ever seen and then smiles again. ”My, aren't you a smart cookie.” Then, without warning, the thing throws out its hand, and something slams into Derek's chest with about as much force an an anvil, and he sees the thing wander casually closer as he fights for breath.

 

”Stop banging on the glass, and I'll let your puppy live.” Derek is confused for a second, but then realizes that the thing is negotiating with Stiles for his life. If he was able to breathe be would be howling out his rage. By some perverse stroke of luck, the thing is apparently so focused on bargaining that it doesn't notice Scott come vaulting through the showers and slamming into it hard enough for them both to topple over. The thing cries out with Stiles' voice, and Derek's gut twists as he scrambles to his feet.

 

”Hold it down,” he rasps, and Scott snarls in pain as he traps the thing in an arm-lock, obviously at great cost. Something smells burnt, and it takes Derek a long panicked second to realize it's Scott's skin where it's touching Stiles. ”Derek!” Scott wails, and Derek launches into action. He's never actually done this before, but it's the only thing he can think of as he closes his hand around Stiles' head, holding it still against the floor as he sinks the claws of his other hand into the back of his neck.

 

Blackness floods his senses and for a long, horrifying moment that's all there is. But then there's screaming. Terrified, agonized screaming, and Derek wills himself towards it.

 

”STILES?!” he roars, as loudly as he can, but all that does is make the screaming stop and utter silence descend.

 

”...Derek?” The voice is small, but it's definitely right. And it's all Stiles.

 

A small light appears and Derek moves towards it until he gets close enough to see a face illuminated by the tiny flickering light. It's a firefly, cradled in Stiles' hand, and it gives just enough light for Derek to see the wide smile of undisguised relief as he moves close enough to Stiles to spot him.

 

”Oh my god, you're alive!” Stiles cries, and throws himself at Derek. Nothing feels exactly real in this strange void, but the vague sensation of Stiles clinging to him soothes Derek, and he hugs back briefly before pulling away to look at Stiles.

 

”The voice said it had killed you! I was so sure you'd be a goner, dude!”

 

”Scott saved the day,” Derek said shortly. ”What is this place?”

 

”Pretty sure it used to be my happy place, but this voice is like a freakin' dementor, sucking all the light and life away a little bit at a time. It's been dark for so long now,” he adds, voice hollow and eyes tired. ”All I have left is this little guy.” He holds up the firefly. ”Brave little trooper. Refuses to give up. Best quality in a brother in arms, don't you think?”

 

Derek takes a long look at the firefly and smiles at Stiles' genuine affection for it, before suddenly feeling sick to his stomach. The feeling of wrong is still there, but it's not in the darkness around them. The darkness is just a void, literally nothing. And the only thing in there apart from Stiles and Derek that doesn't feel like nothing... is the firefly.

 

”Stiles,” Derek says cautiously. ”Do you trust me?”

 

Stiles gives him an odd look, but then nods. ”Yeah, I guess I do. I didn't used to, but... I guess people change.”

 

”Then trust me on this. You need to kill the firefly.”

 

The look on undisguised terror on Stiles' face makes Derek whole body flinch. ”No! No, Derek, you can't ask me to do that! The darkness-”

 

”-is just darkness. Nothing bad, I swear Stiles, think about it. There are only 3 things in here now.”

 

He watches as Stiles thinks things through, drawing the right conclusions, just as Derek knew he would, and they both look down at the firefly, its wings fluttering in agitation, caught between Stiles' loosely closed fingers.

 

”If you leave me here,” Stiles grits out through clenched teeth, ”I will kick your ass to the moon and back, I swear to god. Don't think I can't. I know all the fun types of wolfsbane.”

 

Derek reaches out for Stiles' free hand and laces their fingers together tightly. ”I'll be right here.”

 

Stiles squeezes his hand, and as they both hold their breaths, Stiles' other hand closes around the firefly until the last, tiny ray of light snuffs out.

 

(And they lived happily ever after.)


End file.
